Keaton 3/7
Posted: March 9th, 2009, 8:52 am
Matt and I drove down to Keaton on Friday afternoon to catch up with everyone at the cook-out. Enjoyed talking with everyone and the food was great.
Woke up early on Saturday and dropped the boat in the water not really having a plan, but knowing a few places that have held trout in the past. We tucked in line behind about 5 other boats and started to role out of the channel after Casey gave the word. Made a fairly short run to spot # 1 with no love. Fished hard until 11:30 seeing tons of reds, but only hooking three trout. A nice fish broke me off, while Matt was batting .500 with one of his 2 fish coming unglued. One fish in the boat by mid-day was not the start we had hoped for. Made a crucial decision that this locale wasn't going to win us a tournamnet, even if we managed a limit, and we needed to move. Only problem was that really didn't know where to go. I put the throttle down and told Matt I would let up when the bottom structure and water had changed. By the end of the day the GPS said we had gone about 35 miles with a 27mph top speed....more than my average run, but nice seas the boat ran great.
As soon as we set down on what looked like good territory we started catching fish. The next hour was like fishing in aquarium; armed size trout were swiming all around us and we catching fish two at a time. Weren't able to entice the hog we needed, but managed almost a 12 # limit that was good enough for 4th. Jerk baits (hard and soft) were the ticket. Couldn't buy a top water bite, which is probably why we couldn't find a kicker. Also had two eagles take mullet out of our school, both came within about 50' of the boat.
Had a ton of fun and can't wait for the next one. Only thing I regret is allowing Boo to eat so much at the cook-out, poor dog had a rough tournament day.
Woke up early on Saturday and dropped the boat in the water not really having a plan, but knowing a few places that have held trout in the past. We tucked in line behind about 5 other boats and started to role out of the channel after Casey gave the word. Made a fairly short run to spot # 1 with no love. Fished hard until 11:30 seeing tons of reds, but only hooking three trout. A nice fish broke me off, while Matt was batting .500 with one of his 2 fish coming unglued. One fish in the boat by mid-day was not the start we had hoped for. Made a crucial decision that this locale wasn't going to win us a tournamnet, even if we managed a limit, and we needed to move. Only problem was that really didn't know where to go. I put the throttle down and told Matt I would let up when the bottom structure and water had changed. By the end of the day the GPS said we had gone about 35 miles with a 27mph top speed....more than my average run, but nice seas the boat ran great.
As soon as we set down on what looked like good territory we started catching fish. The next hour was like fishing in aquarium; armed size trout were swiming all around us and we catching fish two at a time. Weren't able to entice the hog we needed, but managed almost a 12 # limit that was good enough for 4th. Jerk baits (hard and soft) were the ticket. Couldn't buy a top water bite, which is probably why we couldn't find a kicker. Also had two eagles take mullet out of our school, both came within about 50' of the boat.
Had a ton of fun and can't wait for the next one. Only thing I regret is allowing Boo to eat so much at the cook-out, poor dog had a rough tournament day.
